Honor those who serve

A Record Dinner

The Mrs & I sat down to a light and healthy dinner about an hour & a half ago (healthy means I had to eat a yucky salad…). Somehow, our conversation turned to the very first record album I ever bought.* It was what is now known as “a Vinyl”. A 33 1/3 rpm two sided record by Gene Pitney, featuring the songs “She’s a Heartbreaker” and “Town Without Pity”. I was 13 years old. And for money, I washed the windows of a jewelry store in downtown Sterling, Illinois every Wednesday afternoon after school. I got paid $2! On top of my 25-cent weekly allowance, I was feeling pretty well-to-do for a 13-year-oldster! I saved my earnings for a month to buy the album because I L-O-V-E-D “Heartbreaker”! My Dad found Gene’s voice annoying, so I only played the album when he wasn’t home.

After dinner, I found a whole bunch of Gene’s songs on YouTube and played She’s a Heartbreaker, and Town Without Pity, and 24 Hours From Tulsa. Then I did a search to find out what/where Gene was up to these days. Sadly, I discovered he passed away on April 5, 2006 in Cardiff, Wales after performing at St. David’s Hall. Reportedly, his last song was “Town Without Pity”. He is buried in Somers Center Cemetery in Somers, Connecticut.

A nicely written overview of Gene’s life was in the The Telegraph, dated April 6, 2006:

“…He walked to the front of the stage to shake the hands of fans and sign their books then strolled the 500 yards to his 7th floor suite at the Hilton hotel, where he lay down fully clothed on his bed to rest. He is believed to have suffered a heart attack…”

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*I remember how the topic came up… We had a Michael Bublé cd playing, and one of the songs struck me as sounding very much like Town Without Pity! Ha!

That is pretty cool! Has she (&/or you) been to Gene’s grave-site? Is there a commemorative bronze plaque at your old shop? Is there great hiking nearby? (That way I can convince The Mrs we need to go hiking and “accidentally” have to go visit the cemetery since it is “soooo close”..)

I’m not sure where the cemetery is. We haven’t been. No plaque and no nearby hiking trail. There might be a recreation area in the futures, at the site of the Somers Mill Fire (I wrote about that for Thursday Doors a while back).

My father-in-law got us ticket so see Gene Pitney when he appeared in the Stardust, Dublin in 1980. During the intermission he came back onto the stage and answered questions from the audience. One woman asked him if he would like to go home with her after the show – as her husband was working that night. That gave him a laugh. I can’t remember what his answer was.

What a great and funny story! One story I read about Gene said he rejected the drugs & alcohol of the rock & roll world, but had a special appreciation for his female fans…. I bet that was a good concert!